If you walk down the street, or perhaps turn on the news, you certainly would be forgiven for thinking that life is just one big suffering and pain to the very end.
And some people, of course, mitigate that pain through drugs, alcohol, bad relationships, but it’s suffering, right?
Truly suffering.
But I don’t subscribe to that view.
I believe ultimately that life is work, and work ultimately will bring you joy.
But along the way, you certainly can stop for a moment and take in some joy.
You can look at the butterflies flying in a park.
You can hear the birds twittering.
You can hear the laughter of children.
You can have a wonderful conversation with someone whom you care for, or perhaps love.
So life is not all about pain and suffering.
It is also about joy and redemption.
But once again, I must open the door to me, and I must get to work, right?
And I think often, pain comes about through ignorance, because many people do not realize that they actually are in control of their own lives, if they so desire.
So let’s take, for instance, you’re extremely stressed by an exam, or perhaps something is occurring at work, and this is causing you a great deal of pain.
But the ultimate question is, who makes you stressed?
Who?
Well, you do, of course.
When I was a very young man, about 18 years old, I had to give this major speech, at school, I believe, and I went to see an old friend of mine, and I was perspiring, and I was extremely nervous.
I’d never spoken to people before.
Well, certainly to this many people, maybe 200 or so.
I was terrified.
And so I’m perspiring, and my friend said to me, my old friend, he’s still alive, 95 now, of all things.
He said to me, Leon, what’s going on?
And I said, I’ve explained his speech, and he said to me, okay.
I said, what do you mean okay?
He said, well, Leon, who makes you stressed?
Who’s bringing you fear here?
And I was so angry, I said, you are.
I said, no, no, Leon, not at all.
You are.
You create this reality all around you.
Now, that is a hard pill to swallow, to believe, because we are so exposed to stimuli, be it may other people or the news or the events that occur on a daily basis.
So it’s hard to believe, but ultimately it is true, because the ultimate test is, if you’re not here, if you were expunged or perhaps never existed, do you think that you would be experiencing this stress now?
Of course not, because it wouldn’t matter.
So, while you’re alive, why not experience some joy?
And we will suffer and have to deal with the stress of life anyhow, because the body, which is my partner, of course, will respond to things like fear, anxiety.
I will get butterflies at the base of my stomach.
My mind will be terrified for sure.
I will fail.
I know I will.
Thoughts like this.
But ultimately, the mind can be trained to realize that even if it is a bad day, it is me, not external circumstances.
It is me that is making it a bad day.
So I thought I would leave you with some thoughts about joy and happiness.
Joy and happiness.
And what do some of the major philosophers of Western civilization say?
Well, our greatest friend, of course, Aristotle.
And Aristotle says ultimately that true happiness is impossible unless we work at it.
We must get down to work.
So, joy is a byproduct, ultimately, according to Aristotle, of fulfilling one’s potential.
And you do this by practice, practice, and practice.
And he lived, curiously, a very long time ago, from 384 to 322 BC, before Jesus.
Next, we come to an interesting man, Epicurus, who is called the founder of Epicureanism.
Now, they ultimately believed in pleasure, and they didn’t mean hedonistic pleasure.
We’re going to go drink alcohol and party.
They meant mental pleasure.
We can exist in a pleasurable state.
So for them, true happiness is the absence of physical pain, and joy is found in simple pleasures.
Seneca, the great Stoic, from 4 BC to 65, he believed that joy is the calm delight that arises from living in harmony with nature and with virtue.
Saint Augustine, Augustus of Hippo, really the first Catholic or the first Christian philosopher, and he believed that happiness resides with an understanding of the Lord, with God.
354 to 430, after Christ as such.
Then his great compatriot, Thomas Aquinas.
Now, Thomas Aquinas was also a great Catholic philosopher, and he believed that happiness in its fullest form is a unification with God.
Whatever that means to you.
And I think I’ll give you just one more.
So Spinoza, he lived from 1632 to 1677, and he said that joy is an increase, is an experience as an increase of life when we fully understand our being, when we really understand the universe, when we understand God.
And I think Carl Jung, who died only 50 years ago, the great psychiatrist, would say that joy and happiness really reside in understanding who I am.
So the point is, all of us are on this great journey called me, if I so desire, and I can understand who I am, what I am, where I’m going, if I’m willing to work on me, whatever that means.
Now, for many people, this is a very frightening concept, because people don’t really want to probe their needs, their desires, they just accept that this wave of nonsense that’s coming at me, a hundred thousand bits and pieces of information, every single day supposedly, from the Internet, our phones, what have you, is actually how I have to exist.
But no, it’s not, because you choose, you can choose your life, it is your life, for God sakes, as they say, it is your life.
And when you really begin to believe this, you ultimately become truly free and truly happy and filled with joy, whatever that means.
Recently, a friend of mine became a nun, and I thought to myself, gosh, she’s going to escape from the world, but in reality, she wanted to become a nun, a religious person, because she wanted to serve others.
She felt that this would be the ideal way, no family, no relationships, then she could serve others and ultimately serve God, and this would bring her happiness.
So who am I to judge?
Each of us must choose our own path to join happiness, mustn’t we?
So you know what they say, you know what they say, critical thinking, of course, leads to joy and happiness and it is everything, and critical thinking is great, truly great.
You take care of yourselves.
We’ll talk soon.
God bless. Bye-bye.